How to Upgrade Kernel to Latest Version in Ubuntu

Periodically new devices and technology coming out and it’s important to keep our Linux system kernel up-to-date if we want to get the most of out it. Moreover, updating system kernel will ease us to take advantage of new kernel fuctions and also it helps us to protect ourselves from vulnerabilities that have been found in earlier versions.

Once you’ve downloaded all the above kernel files, now install them as follows:

$ sudo dpkg -i *.deb

Once the installation is complete, reboot your machine and verify that the new kernel version is being used:

$ uname -sr

And that’s it. You are now using a much more recent kernel version than the one installed by default with Ubuntu.

Summary

In this article we’ve shown how to easily upgrade the Linux kernel on Ubuntu system. There is yet another procedure which we haven’t showed here as it requires compiling the kernel from source, which is not recommended on production Linux systems.

If you’re still interested in compiling the kernel as a learning experience, you will get the instructions on how to do it at the Kernel Newbies page.

As always, feel free to use the form below if you have any questions or comments about this article.

Gabriel Cánepa is a GNU/Linux sysadmin and web developer from Villa Mercedes, San Luis, Argentina. He works for a worldwide leading consumer product company and takes great pleasure in using FOSS tools to increase productivity in all areas of his daily work.

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